The present invention relates to electricity meters. In particular, the present invention relates to an adapter which can be used to enable a standard socket mounted electricity meter to be used in place of a switchboard meter.
As is known by those skilled in the electrical metering arts, socket mounted meters are used in numerous locations. As used herein, the term xe2x80x9csocket mounted meterxe2x80x9d is intended to mean an electricity meter which is intended to be mounted in a base. Common examples of socket mounted meters are those electricity revenue meters which are found on the sides of homes and commercial buildings and in substations.
As used herein, the term xe2x80x9cswitchboardxe2x80x9d is used to refer to a relatively large, flat panel which has metering equipment mounted thereon, or more typically, therethrough, such that the metering equipment may be viewed from the front. However, the electrical connections to the panel mounted meters are made at the rear of the switchboard panel.
Due to the nature of a switchboard, in which the intent is to maintain a relatively flat frontal appearance, a class of metering equipment, called small case meters have been designed to mount either on, or through, switchboards in order to be able to have only their display portions, or a relatively small portion of the meter, exposed on the front side of the meter.
Another factor which is present in typical small case meters, of the type intended for use on a switchboard, is that they are generally adapted to be mounted from the front, and they are thereafter wired from the rear, enabling a single person to be able to both mount and wire them.
Heretofore the different physical configuration of a socket meter, in which the meter is significantly longer than what would be desired to extend through the panel prevented standard meters from being used, also, as switchboard meters. The present invention provides an apparatus which allows a standard socket meter to be used as a switchboard meter, so it is not necessary to store both socket meters and switchboard meters. A socket meter used with the present invention, as a switchboard meter, can readily be removed and used as a standard socket meter.
While a number of adapters have been described by the present inventor, as set forth in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,259,956 and 6,104,601, problems not heretofore addressed involve situations in which a meter is required to replace an existing switchboard meter. In such situations the issue of removing the existing switchboard meter and rewiring an adapter to replace the existing case become significant factors. In many situations the old switchboard meters were wired using asbestos covered wire, so merely accessing and rewiring often entails the need to bring in remediation personnel to deal with the asbestos wiring. Further, any time a meter is disconnected, the need to cut off service and the need to confirm the proper reconnection of the new adapter will be present. As the review of the wiring, called an xe2x80x9cauditxe2x80x9d, may require the presence of different personnel than those who did the actual wiring, the whole issue of replacing the switchboard meter which was already in place with a socket meter becomes one of comparing the high cost of a replacement switchboard meter, with the higher cost of labor. Nevertheless, the labor, once performed, would not have to be repeated when the meter, again, required replacement, so the adapters described in the foregoing patents remain a viable alternative, particularly, when asbestos removal is not, also, an issue.
Nevertheless, in asbestos wiring situations, and in situations in which rewiring costs are exceptionally high, the replacement of a switchboard meter with another switchboard meter remained a viable option. Accordingly, another approach to replacing a switchboard meter with a socket meter, not involving removal and rewiring of the existing switchboard case would be desirable.